The experiences shared in this book of Conversations of Change capture the outcomes of three years’ work conducted by the eight CDAIS country teams from Angola, Bangladesh, Burkina Faso, Ethiopia, Guatemala, Honduras, Laos and Rwanda. Collected between January and March 2019, they provide insights and perspectives of different actors engaged in the different capacity strengthening processes, within individuals and innovation niche partnerships, and at organisational and national level.
Despite substantial research on the economic effects of transgenic insect-resistant Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) cotton, there is still limited work on this technology’s impacts on human health. Due to the inbuilt insect resistance, Bt cotton requires fewer pesticide sprays than conventional cotton, which is not only advantageous from economic and environmental perspectives, but may also result in health benefits for farmers.
There have been clear changes in Guatemala and, according to those involved, outcomes exceeded expectations. These have resulted from the strengthening of functional capacities across individual, partnership, organisational and national levels, using processes that have evolved since the CDAIS project began in 2015. Of the four selected innovation niche partnerships in the country, the conversations here explore the experiences of avocado producers in Sololá, led by AIDA, the Association for the Integral Development of the Altiplano.
Breeding programs for local breeds kept by small farmers in developing countries are a major challenge. Animal recording of pedigree and performance under conditions of subsistence livestock farming is remain difficult or next to impossible. This means that standard genetic evaluations, as well as selection and planning of mating based on estimates of the animals' genotypes, cannot be done at any level in the population of the target breed or genetic group.
CDAIS is a global partnership that aims to strengthen the capacity of countries and key stakeholders to innovate in the context of complex agricultural systems, to improve rural livelihoods. The goal of the Capacity Development for Agricultural Innovation Systems (CDAIS) project is to promote innovation that meets the needs of small farmers, small and medium-sized agribusiness, and consumers.
La CEPAL ha colaborado en la iniciativa La economía del cambio climático en Centroamérica (ECC CA) desde 2008 con el propósito de estimar y evidenciar los impactos de la variabilidad y del cambio climático, y propiciar la discusión sobre políticas públicas en sectores clave. Esta publicación es un resumen de los análisis de impactos potenciales del cambio climático y de las discusiones sobre opciones de políticas públicas en Guatemala generadas en el marco de la iniciativa ECC CA.
These guidelines have been elaborated by the CDAIS project to organize policy consultations at national level. In particular, they can be used by project teams (e.g. project managers, facilitators, policy consultants) for the planning of national policy dialogue events to discuss policy related issues emerged during the local consultations at innovation partnership level and require attention of national policy makers.
These guidelines have been elaborated by the CDAIS project to organize policy consultations at innovation partnership level. They can be used by project teams (e.g. project managers, facilitators, policy consultants) to plan and conduct workshops with representatives of the innovation partnership to discuss policy related issues that hinder the innovation process in a particular partnership.
From the Maya to modern times, beekeeping has been a much respected rural activity in Guatemala. Then in recent years, production increased and a national association was formed. But internal disagreements soon saw a fall in production and sales. Then thanks to CDAIS, producers across the country asked for and were given, a new space to gather. And there they rediscovered their common interests and goals, and have re-established their original organization, to excellent effect.
El 5 de mayo de 2018, la Asociación para el Desarrollo Integral del Altiplano se estableció formalmente, y los agricultores de aguacate celebraron. “Hoy, estamos muy contentos de haber consolidado nuestro consorcio de ocho asociaciones de productores de diferentes municipios de Sololá”, explica Don Andrés, líder de la comunidad y agricultor de por vida. “Los agricultores de San Andrés Semetabaj y otras comunidades alrededor del Lago de Atitlán comenzaron a hablar sobre el cultivo de una nueva variedad de aguacate hace algún tiempo.